KOTTAYAM: Embattled Kuttanad MLA and former minister Thomas Chandy on Thursday suffered another setback when the Court of Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge (Vigilance Court) here ordered the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to register an FIR and conduct an investigation into the alleged reclamation of land for constructing a road to the Lake Palace Resort in violation of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008.
The court has posted the case to January 18, and the Vigilance was directed to submit the FIR registered against Chandy on the day.Vigilance Judge V Dilip issued the order on a complaint from Adv M K Subhash, JD(S) district secretary. Earlier, the court had directed the VACB to conduct a preliminary enquiry(PE)on the matter and the new order came on the basis of the inquiry report submitted by Kottayam Vigilance SP M Johnson Joseph, which reportedly recommended registering a case against Chandy in connection with the construction of Valiyakulam - Zero Jetty Road leading upto Chandy’s Lake Palace Resort in Alappuzha.
This is the first Vigilance probe against Chandy, following the intervention of a court in the wake of slew of charges levelled against him, including illegal land filling and encroachment in ‘Marthandam Kayal’ [Mathandam Lake]. According to the complaint, Chandy constructed the road utilising the MPs’ Fund, which resulted in a loss of `65 lakh to the public exchequer.It said the one km-long road was constructed after reclaiming land illegally.